Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This is not the first debate we have had on insurance, which has got out of control in Ireland. Lorrymen are leaving this country and setting up in different countries because of insurance. When people get a NCT it is supposed to be valid but if the car is over ten years old they are screwed by insurance companies, which is intolerable. We have the opportunity to put limiters in cars for young drivers and make roads safer but nobody seems to be bothered.

I cannot understand why, despite the great EU project that everyone talks about, we cannot get insurance in any country we want. The Minister said the EU made things better for its citizens but why can it not do it in this case? The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport is probably the most anti-rural Minister there has been. It is bad enough that mothers and fathers have to pay for young people to get to college but the Minister is trying to finish them off by making sure they cannot drive at all.

The book of quantum has to be sorted out. The previous speaker showed what the rate was in Scotland for the same driver with the same licence and the same car with the same mileage. There is something seriously wrong when there is such a discrepancy between two countries not far away from each other. I do not know if there is any enthusiasm to solve this but the EU should take the bull by the horns so that people can get the cover they require from outside this country if our insurance companies are not prepared to drop their prices. When insurance companies went bust, people were left high and dry so it is time we stopped talking about it. Actions speak louder than words and we can have all the motions in the world but what counts are the figures people are given when they apply for insurance for their vehicles.

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